Hertford East railway station is the northern terminus of the Hertford East branch line off the

West Anglia Main Line The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main line railways that operate out of (the other being the Great Eastern Main Line to Ipswich and Norwich). It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and ...

in the

east of England East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact ...

, and is located in the town of

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

in Hertfordshire. It is down the line from London Liverpool Street and is one of two stations in the town, the other being on the Hertford Loop Line. Its three-letter station code is HFE. The station and all trains calling are operated by

Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Transport UK East Anglia Limited) is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city se ...

. There are two platforms, although platform number one is generally only used during peak times, during times of disruption and primarily for trains to and from

Stratford station Stratford is a major multi-level interchange station serving the town of Stratford and the mixed-use development known as Stratford City, in the London Borough of Newham, East London for London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light ...

History

The first station opened on 31 October 1843 sited to the east of the present station. The current station, designed by W. N. Ashbee, was opened by the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

on 27 February 1888, replacing the first station. The station was listed in 1974 as a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

; in 1996 the

buffer stop A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent Railroad car, railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of Track (rail transport), track. The design of the buffer stop is dependen ...

lights on platform 1 were separately listed in their own right. The Grade II listed signal box at the station was dismantled in October 2021 to allow for platform extensions. It will be relocated to the

Wensleydale Railway The Wensleydale Railway is a heritage railway in Wensleydale and Lower Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England. It was built in stages by different railway companies and originally extended to Garsdale railway station on the Settle-Carlisle line ...

Services

All services at Hertford East are operated by

using

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...

. The typical off-peak service is two trains per hour to and from London Liverpool Street via which start and terminate at Hertford East. Additional services, including trains to and from run to and from the station during the peak hours. On Sundays, services run to and from Stratford instead of London Liverpool Street.

Proposed developments

Some options of the proposed

East West Rail East West Rail (or the East West Main Line, EWML) is a strategic aim to establish a new main line railway between East Anglia and Oxfordshire. The immediate plan is to build (or rebuild) a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Mi ...

involve reopening a route between Hertford East railway station and Hertford North railway station; however a 2009 discussion paper noted that while "the new connection appears technically feasible, doubts must be cast over its public acceptability and deliverability".

In popular culture

Hertford East doubles as Yeovil Railway Station in the 1960 film '' School for Scoundrels'', seen in the opening titles and closing credits. The station features in a number of different channel branding films (called 'Idents' in the television industry) for the ITV channels in the UK. Different, but similar idents have been created for each five of ITV's channels.

References

External links

{{Railway stations served by Greater Anglia Railway stations in Hertfordshire DfT Category E stations Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1888 Railway stations served by Greater Anglia Buildings and structures in Hertford Grade II listed railway stations William Neville Ashbee railway stations